FAQ

What the Heck?

JoCo Cruise 2019 is a full-ship charter, seven night cruise aboard Holland America Line’s ms Oosterdam, with music, comedy, and other performances and events from Jonathan Coulton and friends. Since the first JoCo Cruise sailed in 2011, it’s become a popular vacation choice for technophiles, tabletop gamers, and creative-minded people of all stripes. It departs from Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, March 9, 2019 and returns Saturday, March 16, 2019.

Yes! For the third consecutive year, we’re chartering the whole ship, which lets us do a bunch of neat things:

Program whatever we want, whenever we want. With a full-ship charter, we no longer have to juggle and fit our programming around the rest of the passengers and their schedule. Because we are the rest of the passengers!

Bring a wide variety of performers, gaming experts, authors, raconteurs, and creative/makerfolk of all stripes, both to entertain and for general mingling/chilling.

Take the ship wherever we want (within reason), including some off-the-beaten-path ports of call.

Do lots of things to foster community, such as ship-wide theme days/nights; our own shipboard TV and radio channels; and generally creating a fun and energizing environment where you know that everyone you meet “gets it.”

So. Much. Tabletop. Gaming. EVERYWHERE.

Destroy Alderaan. (We wouldn’t—it’s peaceful, they have no weapons—but it’s nice to know that we could.)

Most certainly. Although be warned that there’s often some “adult” material. All ages may attend the shows, but they will not necessarily be “family friendly;” so use your own judgment and parental standards.

THAT SAID…there will be plenty to keep the young ‘uns occupied if they’re not interested in Beardy McInternet and his rabble, including the ship’s fully staffed Club HAL activity centers (it’s segmented for different age groups.) And once you get past two people in a cabin, the third and fourth people are significantly cheaper. So go ahead and bring the whole family.

A very special amenity exclusively for guests cruising in a Neptune or Pinnacle Suite, the industry-leading Neptune Lounge features a private place to relax, socialize with other suite guests and enjoy the personalized service of a concierge. The fleet-wide lounges provide worktables, large screen television, library, sofas and chairs, refreshments throughout the day and Wi-Fi for a small charge. One-Touch 24-hour Concierge Service is available when the Neptune Lounge is closed.

JoCo Cruise is a small business comprising people who’ve been working on the internet for years and who are already subscribed to all the worst mailing lists. When it comes to the privacy of your data and the sanctity of your custom, we feel your pain, thank you for your patronage, and respect your privacy.

In the course of providing cruises and related products and services we may collect various demographic data along with email addresses, names, and receipts for past purchases. There may be other data you are asked to provide in the course of our providing a cruise to you, which we may retain on our servers. In the course of providing customer service and corresponding with those who write to us and call us, we may receive other information that is provided to us over email or voicemail, which will be retained by us or our vendors (e.g. gmail, Google Voice). We will not and never have stored payment data on our servers. Any data you post publicly on the JoCo Cruise Forum or any JoCo Cruise related public site may be stored by JoCo Cruise or a contracted party and will be visible to others.

Finally, there are some automated metrics that we collect when you visit our sites. Think cookies, logs, your user agent, data that is used for statistical and marketing purposes. In certain circumstances, this data may be connected to your name in our system (e.g. we know the user-agent and IP that completed a booking for a cabin).

We use the information we collect to provide the JoCo Cruise to you to monitor the performance of our site and marketing activities, and to market the JoCo Cruise. Some of these activities are enabled by third parties to whom we provide information when necessary. We only provide personal information to outside parties if it is necessary to provide a service (e.g. our travel agency and cruiseline needs to know your name and date of birth in order to get you a berth on the ship; Mailchimp sends our emails; Blackbox has handled shipping and fulfillment, etc) and we would not provide these data if we thought they would be used for purposes beyond our own.

We do not furnish email lists or other personally identifying data to our sponsors or other entities for their own marketing purposes or for any purpose other than conducting the business of JoCo Cruise, which is providing the JoCo Cruise and related products to our customers, selling the JoCo Cruise and related products, and monitoring our effectiveness at performing the aforementioned activities.

If we receive court orders or are required to furnish data by law we will either comply with these requests (be prepared for this option) or take a custerian stand against the man (be prepared for this option). JoCo Cruise may also provide data to companies providing investigatory, anti-fraud, or compliance services (data will not be provided to these entities for commercial or marketing purposes.)

We strive to protect all the data we hold by, first, never retaining customer payment data and, second, watching over our servers and codebase with care and using HTTPS. We cannot guarantee that a breach will not happen. In the event our websites are hacked or otherwise breached we will make reasonable attempts to notify the affected parties if we believe there is a risk to them. As necessary we will involve specialists and law enforcement and share data with them as well if necessary (again, not for commercial or marketing purposes).

This policy applies only to the JoCo Cruise and its website, not to the site of any vendor or entity with whom we are associated or have mentioned. Information provided to third parties is not governed by the JoCo Cruise Privacy Policy.

Booking Questions

Yes! Don’t lose all hope! Over the course of the year a number of cabins usually free up, primarily due to cancellations.

You can sign up on the JoCo Cruise wait list whether you’ve not yet booked JCC2019, or you’re already booked but are looking to switch to a currently-unavailable cabin category. When signing up on the wait list, please indicate which cabin type(s) you are interested in.

When a previously-sold-out cabin becomes available, first priority will be given to those on the wait list who are already booked on JoCo Cruise 2019, but are seeking to switch to that specific category. Thereafter it’ll be offered based on “wait list seniority”—i.e., starting with those who signed up on the wait list the earliest)— to wait listees who selected that specific cabin category.

Please note: if you’ve booked a stateroom already and are interested in getting on the wait list for a lower-category stateroom (e.g., booked a Verandah, but are looking for an Interior), please see our FAQ item regarding “downgrades” and applicable fees/penalties.

We’ve chartered the entire ship for the whole week, so you can only book JoCo Cruise 2019 at jococruise.com. OR…you can get hired by Holland America Line and hope they deploy you on the Oosterdam from March 9-16, 2019.

Also, because it’s not a retail Holland America Line sailing, any credit card or other discount vouchers normally available on their cruises are not redeemable for JoCo Cruise 2019. But we do offer our own discounts.

Infants and Children under the age of 3 (as of our sailing date of March 9, 2019) are eligible for a discount of $250 per child, which will be applied towards the total balance owed on the given booking. This discount will automatically be applied during the JCC2019 booking process.

If you book a cabin and then later decide to drop any occupants you will lose any applicable discount(s) for the berth(s) you are cancelling, and the Pay in Full discount is applied to your new balance.

Example: you book a 2-person category C Ocean-view stateroom during the early booking period and pay in full, for a total of $3952 ($4360 double occ. rate, minus $200 for 2 $100 early booking discounts = $4160; minus 5% Pay in Full discount). If you reduce to a 1-person cabin, your new total balance will become $3727.80 ($4024 single occ. rate, minus $100 for one Early Booking discount = $3924; minus 5% Pay in Full discount).

Of course, you’re perfectly welcome to pay the entire amount up front (and potentially receive 5% off as a Pay In Full Discount), or any amount greater than the required installments. You may also choose to pay in as many installments as you wish: after you book your trip, we will email you a PayPal link which you may use to make payments at any time. So long as you meet the minimum per person deposits as outlined above, you’ll be good to go.

If you’re booking a cabin for multiple passengers, but don’t actually have everyone’s names yet, you MUST put down the applicable deposit for each berth you expect to fill, as well as keep up with all scheduled deposits for all berths. If you initially book a double-occupancy room and then want to “upgrade” to a triple or quad at a later date, we cannot guarantee the future availability of triple/quad capacity staterooms.

If your booking doesn’t keep up with the required deposit schedule for all berths in your cabin, berths in arrears may lose their eligibility for any applicable discounts.

During the booking process, there will be a checkbox you can select for any passengers whose information you’ll need to fill in later.

We have set up JoCo Cruise 2019 Roommate-seekers Listserv specifically for anyone seeking roommates for JCC2019. This will be your most direct method for searching for cabin mates. The link above will walk you through the sign-up process. (NOTE: Currently, Hotmail accounts may not work properly with the listserv; we are working on a solution to this problem.)

Our fanbase has proven to be extremely friendly, resourceful and helpful, and many folks find roommates (and subsequently, new friends!) with no difficulty. It’s our fervent hope that everyone who wishes to find a roommate can find one, but we make no guarantees.

Yes! In the Payment section of the booking process you will have the option to pay a partial amount. After you complete the booking you’ll receive a confirmation email with a link that will let you or anyone else make additional payments against that booking. Your cabin will remain reserved while you coordinate everyone’s payments, but it won’t be finalized until the full initial deposit amount has been made.

Once you’ve gone through the initial booking process, each party in the booking may create their own JoCo Cruise User Account. Via these accounts, individual passengers will be able to make payments directly towards the remaining balance at any time. You’ll receive complete details about User Accounts when you book.

Though multiple people may make payments for any given booking, calculating the amounts owed by individual parties is not a service we provide; it is up to the individual members of the booking to determine how the balance should be divided. Final responsibility to pay rests with your booking’s Primary Contact (the person who created the booking), and regardless of how payment gets divided, the balance must be paid in full by the Final Deposit date (see Pricing page for deposit dates and amounts.)

And obviously, if your initial booking deposit remains unpaid for too long past the deadline, we’ll have to cancel it in order to free that cabin up for someone else. But we will do our best to get in touch with you and resolve the situation before we take that action—our preference is to find a way for YOU to join us for the fun.

Yes. If they will be the sole payer for your booking, be sure you have all of the payment information ready when you start the booking process. If the person paying is already a member of your booking, the process will operate as outlined in the “Can my roommate(s) and I pay separately?” FAQ. If someone who is a not a part of your booking would like to make a partial payment towards your booking, please contact us at [email protected] for instructions.

Yes, there is a surcharge on all single-occupancy staterooms; this is reflected in the Single Occupancy pricing listed in the JCC2019 Pricing Table, and the correct total will appear automatically when you book.

JoCo Cruise works to ensure that all aspects of our event are fully accessible by all attendees. Holland America Line’s facilities are deigned to accommodate people with mobility, hearing, and visual disabilities. You can visit HAL’s website for complete information regarding their various accessibility and special needs options, including info on accessible staterooms.

HAL also requests that anyone with accessibility issues planning to book a shore excursion download their Journeys Ashore accessibility form to ensure that they are correctly advised of the excursions that will best fit their individual needs. Please submit completed forms directly to HAL at [email protected] or fax it to 206-501-2653.

During JoCo Cruise, if anyone encounters any issues regarding accessibility, we will work with HAL to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND PURCHASING TRIP INSURANCE. Many options and packages are available online, though the most flexible ones require purchase within 14 days of your initial booking. (JoCo Cruise does not offer or endorse any specific insurance program or company.)

Bookings made on or before August 31, 2018 may be cancelled within 30 days of original booking date with no cancellation fees.

Bookings made between September 1 and December 31, 2018 may be cancelled within 7 days of original booking date with no cancellation fees.

Bookings made January 1, 2019 and after may be cancelled within 24 hours with no cancellation fees.

Outside of the above “penalty-free” windows, cancellation fees as assessed per the following schedule:

Cancellation on or before April 30, 2018: Full refund

Cancellation from May 1 through August 31, 2018: $500 per person

Cancellation from September 1 through December 31, 2018: 50% of the total booking price

Cancellation on or after January 1, 2019: No refund

NOTE: if two or more existing bookings are merged into a single booking, this counts as a cancellation of the “discarded” booking(s), which is (are) subject to any applicable cancellation fees.

If you are seeking to “downgrade” your cabin type (e.g., switch from a verandah to an interior), please see our FAQ item on the subject.

For dropping berths within a booking (i.e. not completely cancelling the booking), see this FAQ item.

No exceptions will be made to our cancellation policy under any circumstances (including but not limited to personal financial issues, adverse weather, or being denied boarding by Holland America Line for any reason, including health reasons). JoCo Cruise recommends purchasing trip insurance to protect against unforeseen circumstances that could hinder your ability to sail on JCC2019.

In case of cancellation, any applicable refund amounts due may be remitted either by check or to your PayPal account, at the discretion of JoCo Cruise. Note that for check refunds we may require documentation of your current address.

We strongly recommend that all passengers with potential concerns and/or who may become pregnant during JoCo Cruise investigate travel insurance options that will cover Zika Virus-related cancellations—specifically, investigate policies with “Cancel for Any Reason” benefits.

If you or a member of your booking will be pregnant during JoCo Cruise and you wish to cancel your booking, contact us directly.

In this above case only (upon verification of pregnancy), while you will remain liable for any cancellation fees applicable at the time of cancellation, these fees may be applied as a credit towards a future JoCo Cruise booking.

You may make these changes as desired, subject to the below fees and deadlines:

Add a new passenger: no fee

Please note that new passengers may not be eligible for the same discount(s) as other passengers in your existing booking.

Upgrade to a higher category cabin: no fee

Passenger changes (name changes):

Changes made through April 30, 2018: $25 per change

Changes made on May 1, 2018 or after: $100 per change

Cancel a berth/berths:

Changes made through April 30, 2018: $25 per dropped berth

Changes made on May 1, 2018 or after: $250 per dropped berth

Total cost of booking and applicable discounts will be adjusted to reflect the new number of berths in the booking

New total cost plus dropped berth fee will not exceed your original booking cost (i.e. you will not pay more than the original cost of your booking should you drop a berth(s))

Transfer your booking to a different primary contact (i.e., the person responsible for the booking):

Through December 31, 2018: $300 Administrative Fee

January 1, 2019 or later: No primary contact transfers permitted.

Remaining balance for your cabin will be based on the rate for that cabin’s new occupancy. (e.g., if going from two passengers to one, the cabin’s price will be based on its single occupancy rate, not just “half of double occupancy”)

IMPORTANT: Change fees will not be applied when adding “real” passenger information for an existing “TBD guest” berth (i.e., if you initially paid for a multi-passenger cabin but didn’t have all the passenger information at the time of booking).

“Downgrading” a booking is possible, pending availability. However, bookings downgraded on or after April 30, 2018 will be subject to a $300 Administrative Fee, except for those bookings added to the wait list before this date. Downgraded bookings will lose any applicable Early Booking Discount, and any applicable Pay in Full Discount will be recalculated based on the new cabin cost.

Trip insurance is not included in the JoCo Cruise 2019 cruise price, but we strongly suggest purchasing it through a third party. Each year there have been people who have needed to cancel for a wide variety of reasons (including adverse weather, cabin mates backing out, and unforeseen financial hardship), so we highly recommend it. For complete peace of mind, you may wish to consider a policy that allows “Cancel for Any Reason” coverage.

While trip insurance can be purchased just about any time, the most flexible plans generally must be purchased within 14 days of your initial booking; some trip insurance policies require purchase within one day of booking in order to be covered for pre-existing conditions.

JoCo Cruise has no affiliation with InsureMyTrip, but suggest it as one good place to begin your independent research.

I’m Booked! Now What?

We understand that unexpected circumstances may arise, and are sympathetic to everyone’s situation.

That said, we cannot make exceptions to our payment schedule or cancellation fees. For anyone who wants to guard against the possibility of sudden financial issues jeopardizing their trip, we strongly recommend purchasing trip insurance—specifically, a policy that covers such situations.

There’s two great starting places once you need to get ready for your trip:

Our Travel and Accommodations page has comprehensive information and advice on getting to Fort Lauderdale, hotel information, shuttles to and from the port, and everything you need to get “there and back again.”

All members of your booking (including children) must have and bring with them a valid passport (or other acceptable documentation) that will not expire for at least 6 months after the ship returns on March 16, 2019.

All members of your booking are responsible for getting to the ship on time, both for initial embarkation and at each port during the sailing. JoCo Cruise does not handle or pay for any attendee’s travel arrangements to or from the ship, at any time.

All members of your booking must check-in online with Holland America prior to sailing. JoCo Cruise will notify all passengers with JoCo Cruise User IDs when the check-in process is open; it will be each booking’s lead person’s responsibility to ensure that all necessary information has been accurately provided to Holland America.

The Oosterdam is currently scheduled to depart from Fort Lauderdale at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 9, 2019. Holland America requires all passengers be on board at least 90 minutes ahead of time—3:30 p.m. Departure time is subject to change; we’ll notify you immediately if/when it does.

If you’re flying, it is strongly recommended that you arrive in Fort Lauderdale at least a day prior to sailing, to allow for weather/mechanical/unexpected delays in travel. (Weather is no joke in February: there has been snow in various parts of the US each of the previous years, and a blizzard in 2013; a few people got stuck and were unable to attend the cruise or had to meet up with it halfway through.)

If you choose to arrive the morning of sailing, please note that the ship is scheduled to depart at 5 p.m., and Holland America requires that all passengers be checked in and on board no later than 90 minutes before departure, which is 3:30 p.m.* Please make allowances accordingly; we would absolutely hate for anyone to be left behind, but there are no exceptions to our refund policy in the event of missing the cruise.

*published departure time as of February 1, 2018 and subject to change

As we did for previous JoCo Cruise sailings, we will have an “official” hotel this year—once we have finalized arrangements, complete information will be found on our Travel and Accommodations page. You are more than welcome to make your own hotel arrangements if you wish; use of the “official” JCC2019 hotel is not required. (But is a lot of fun!)

The JoCo Cruise organization does not handle travel arrangements (flights, trains, etc.) for attendees beyond the cruise itself. We recommend you visit one or more of the numerous online travel sites and/or airline websites for assistance, and strongly recommend you compare prices at more than one site for the best possible deal.

When you initially book with us, you receive a JoCo Cruise Booking ID (starting with jc9, most likely), for use with the JCC Home Office internal system. But you get a SECOND booking number from Holland America; this “number” is six alphanumeric characters long and in all-caps (e.g. H5X2G4). You will use this HAL booking number to check-in online on the HAL site.

Holland America Booking numbers are NOT immediately available. We will notify you by email when your booking number has been received. Once we’ve emailed you, your booking number will also be visible on your JoCo Cruise User Account.

Your guest was recently added to your reservation and HAL has not yet confirmed their booking number. As soon as we receive their booking number from HAL, their status will change from “pending” to the number itself. (This process may take up to three weeks.)
2. Your guest was invited to join the reservation and create their own JCC User Account, but has not yet done so. Once they have joined the reservation and filled out all of their personal data (by selecting the blue “edit” number next to their name in the listing), they’ll be added to your booking and the process of getting their HAL booking number will begin. (As above, this process may take up to three weeks.)

Checking in online with Holland America will greatly expedite your boarding process at the pier on the day of embarkation, by securely providing HAL your passenger data, Immigration, Disembarkation and credit card information. While it’s not absolutely required, we strongly recommend all our passengers do so, as it will save you from having to fill out a bunch of forms manually while standing at the pier.

Once you’ve entered those, the site will walk you through the online check-in process. You can check-in any or all of the passengers in your booking. For each guest you’re checking in, you will need the following information:

Full legal name

Birthdate

Passport number

Address

Phone number

Emergency contact info

You can also enter flight information (if known) and credit card information (for onboard purchases) at this time. When each guest’s information is completed, you can print out your boarding passes, which you should bring with you to the pier on March 9th.

If you don’t know all the information required, you can save your progress and complete it later.

Once check-in is completed, you can also print out luggage tags that will help the HAL staff get your bags from the pier to your stateroom. (If you forget your luggage tags, don’t fret; you can get tags from the baggage handlers at the pier.)

If you have medical, dietary or other special needs, please refer to our related FAQ item.

We also recommend creating an account on the Holland America website as well, which will make using their website easier in the future. Please note that many who sailed with JoCo Cruise in 2011, 2012, 2017 or 2018 may ALREADY have Holland America accounts. (Also please note that your Holland America account is entirely separate from and unconnected with the JoCo Cruise User Account system.)

For most events, because we have the whole ship you’ll just need to show up at the event. Done and done! However, because the Oosterdam doesn’t have any single space that can hold all attendees at once, we’ve adopted a new system for the “Main Events” shows:

The JoCo Cruise “Main Concerts” (the main performances taking place in the ship’s main theater) will have both an early and a late show, corresponding with the ship’s two dinner seatings. Passengers will be placed in either the Early Show/Late Dinner (Gold Team) or Early Dinner/Late Show (Red Team), and will receive a corresponding wristband to indicate their group. You can select your preference for Early or Late seating (or indicate no preference) via your User Account. We will do our best to accommodate all requests, but please note that that expressing a preference does not guarantee your being assigned that seating.) While the Early Dinner group is eating, the Late Dinner group will attend the Main Event show; then, everybody switches.

Beyond the Main Events, performances and gatherings will be held throughout the ship all week long, with attendance on a first-come basis. Rooms will be cleared after most events—no “camping” will be permitted. But given how many amazing things will be happening, it would be a shame to spend any time waiting for any particular event!

As described above, you’ll be assigned to either the Early or Late dinner seating. You can select your preference for Early or Late seating (or indicate no preference) via your User Account. (We will do our best to accommodate all requests, but please note that that expressing a preference does not guarantee your being assigned that seating.)

Like previous years, dinner will be “open seating” within each seating—anyone can sit at any table not already marked as “Reserved/Fixed.” But if you have a group that wishes to all sit together at the same table for the duration of JCC2019, we will be making that option available.

There are also other dinner options besides the main dining room, in case you don’t want to waste precious concert-going/gaming/relaxing time on fine dining.

Unfortunately, no. Rest assured, we are genuinely happy for you and your birthday/marriage/unbounded love and devotion. But in order to be fair to everyone who makes similar requests, we must say either “no” or “yes” to everyone. And the the latter just isn’t workable.

In many ports of call, the ship is able to pull directly up to the pier, and everyone disembarks directly onto “dry land.” In some ports, however, the port area is not able to accommodate cruise ships (either the bay is too shallow, or the piers aren’t large enough to properly serve ships that large). In those cases, the ship anchors a little ways out from land, and people disembark onto smaller “tenders,” or shuttle boats that ferry you from the ship to the pier and vice versa.

These tender rides are usually brief (5-10 minutes), are free to all passengers, and run constantly for the duration of our stay in port. In most ports, you must board a tender 30 minutes prior to our scheduled departure time.

In 2019, Tortola and San Juan will both be “regular” ports; Half Moon Cay will be a “tender” port.

In general, our performers/guests will be on board for the entire trip. In some cases, however, schedule or family commitments may prevent some performers from being able to join us for the full duration of JoCo Cruise.

Like everybody sailing aboard JoCo Cruise 2019, our special guests will be pulling up to the same taco bar, walking the same corridors, lounging by the same pools, and generally hanging out on the same ship for a week. So it’s very likely you’ll have some sort of interaction with at least some of them.

That said, we can’t guarantee you’ll have face time with [Famous Person X]. Some performers will be more comfortable with general fan interaction, some less so.

You might try to attend the “Office Hours” many of the Official guests host throughout the week, which present a much more direct (but still chill!) way to hang out with [Famous Person Y]. These sessions will be listed in the daily schedule aboard the ship, and are often scheduled more spontaneously. So keep an eye out.

We don’t hold a dedicated, ship-wide autograph session for all the performers and guests. We value the relaxed, “just hanging out together” vibe that has evolved with our event, and a con-style “two hours in line for twenty seconds of interaction, move along, move along” autograph event doesn’t fit that vibe. Despite some convention-style trappings, prefer to think of JoCo Cruise as more like Nerd Summer Camp. And have you ever seen an autograph session at summer camp*? But it’s absolutely fine to ask any of the performers for an autograph when they’re in public areas and not clearly otherwise occupied (e.g., not while eating, having “family time,” etc.).

That said, some of our guests do elect to hold one or more autograph sessions while on board; these generally happen in the last couple days of the cruise, and will be listed in our online and printed schedules.

NOTE: guests with non-life threatening dietary restrictions should contact the Ship Services Department at 1‐800‐541‐1576 and ask them to add that information as a note in your booking.

You must submit special needs requests directly to HAL, as they must handle them directly. JoCo Cruise cannot process these requests.

HAL also requests that anyone with accessibility issues planning to book a shore excursion download their Journeys Ashore accessibility form to ensure that they are correctly advised of the excursions that will best fit their individual needs. Please submit completed forms directly to HAL at [email protected] or fax it to 206-501-2653.

And we are too. So of COURSE there will be internet access, in the form of WiFi that’s available in virtually every cabin and most public spaces throughout the ship.

The bad news is it’s not free—in fact, it’s quite expensive compared to land-based plans, probably because every 1 and 0 needs to be transmitted to and from SPACE. It’s also not terribly fast, especially compared to broadband. Details for this sailing will be announced as soon as they are available.

You may also opt for traditional voice and data (charged per MB) roaming through your carrier. This is an expensive option, but it is available.

Some of your fellow Sea Monkeys will be provisioning Twit-arr, JoCo Cruise’s internal group messaging service, and we’re working with Holland America Line to hook it up to the Oosterdam’s internal WiFi network.

If you don’t know what we’re talking about, Twit-arr is a custom social media platform designed and utilized by Sea Monkeys to organize groups large and small, to share information and experiences about the ship and excursions, and to generally squee. It’s completely free, and runs on pretty much any web browser. It does NOT provide internet access—you’ll still need to buy WiFi if you want to check your email, shop for knitted widgets on Etsy, etc.

Please make sure it’s clear in the name, description, and appearance of the group/page that it’s not an Official JoCo Cruise group/page, and that its members and moderators do not speak or imply that they speak on behalf of The JoCo Cruise.

The Mariner Society is a loyalty program for frequent Holland America cruisers. (Please note that this is entirely separate from and unconnected with the JoCo Cruise User Account system.) If you’ve never sailed on HAL before, you’re automatically entered in the Mariner Society when you create an account on the HAL website.

JoCo Cruisers may have an existing Mariner Number from the 2011, 2012 2017 or 2018 JoCo Cruises. If your past cruise history is not showing up in your Holland America account, we recommend you contact the Mariner Society by phone or using their online form for assistance.

Be excellent to each other. Treat your fellow Sea Monkeys with kindness and respect. This is an enthusiastic and supportive community, and we hope it will always to be this way. Invite people into your conversations and activities; be supportive when your fellow Sea Monkeys try new things; participate, say hello, help out. Events like these can feel lonely and intimidating when you’re new and don’t know anybody. Be welcoming, inclusive and friendly!

Don’t harass others. Some things that are not OK: any kind of physical, verbal, or psychological abuse; threats, intimidation, and bullying; slurs about race, gender, or sexuality; unwanted romantic attention, sexual harassment, and generally creepy or stalky behavior; and photographing anyone or engaging in physical interactions (hugging, tickling, backrubs, etc.) without consent. If someone asks you to stop doing something and you keep doing it, that’s harassment.

Be excellent to the ship’s staff and anyone you encounter at a port of call. Bad behavior by individuals reflects poorly on our group as a whole. Please don’t be the person who makes the Sea Monkeys look bad to the HAL staff and/or the locals.

Don’t steal things. I mean, obviously.

Don’t use illegal substances or bring them onboard. No exceptions.

**The ship’s management has the final say. The officers and crew of the Oosterdam all want you to have fun, but they’re also responsible for the safety and well-being of every person on board. Don’t hesitate to come to us if you need help dealing with an issue, but know that if it involves the ship and its operations, or the health or well-being of passengers and/or crew, ultimately we must defer to the Oosterdam management.

In general we expect that, as in years past, JoCo Cruisers will act responsibly and look after one another. But in the event of a breach of this Code of Conduct, we reserve the right to take action, including (but not limited to) limiting access to events, expulsion without refund, and/or permanent banning from JoCo Cruise events.

During the cruise, if you witness behavior contrary to this Code of Conduct, are concerned about another JoCo Cruise attendee’s behavior, or feel that you are being or have been harassed, contact any Helper Monkey or member of the JoCo Cruise management team (Drew, Paul, Storm, Thera or Anna). Off-ship, email JoCo Cruise management at [email protected].

From within the user account, click the blue “Edit” button next to your name and you will be taken to a page where you can edit all of your personal information (i.e. Name, Birthdate, Citizenship, and more).

If your cabin-mate already has their own user account, then you cannot edit their information — your guest will have to add this information from within their own user account. Please write to us if you need to edit a guest who already has an account.

If your cabin-mate does not already have their own user account, then click the blue “Edit” button next to their name in your user account. If you added a guest without a name (i.e. a placeholder passenger) their name will appear as “TBD guest.”

For TBD Guests: Uncheck the box that currently says “I will submit passenger details for this guest later (or invite the guest to fill out an account)”. This will allow you to either enter the guest’s information in full or click the checkbox to invite the guest to the user account system.

For Guests with data already submitted: You may check the box to invite the guest to the user account system or fill out their data in full, following the prompts onscreen.

If you choose to invite your guest to create a user account, you will be prompted to put in your guest’s name and email address. The guest will receive an email which will allow them to create a user account or link an existing user account. After this is done they will need to fill in their guest data in full.

OR…go ahead and fill out all of their personal information if you know it yourself and your guest does not want to create an account.

Click the blue “Edit” button next any guest on your booking that says “TBD guest.” Uncheck the box that currently says “I will submit passenger details for this guest later (or invite the guest to fill out an account).”

Then, either:

Click the box that says “Please invite this guest to create a user account and fill out their own passenger details”; you’ll then be prompted to put in your guest’s name and email address; OR…

Go ahead and fill out all of their personal information if you know it yourself and your guest does not want to create an account.

From within the user account system, click the blue “Edit” button next to your guest’s name.

For TBD Guests: Uncheck the box that currently says “I will submit passenger details for this guest later (or invite the guest to fill out an account)”.

Check the box that says “Please send an invite to the following guest”. You will be prompted to enter their name and email address, and an invite will be sent to them to create a user account and fill out all of their needed information for the cruise (Name, Birthdate, Citizenship, etc.).

Click the link in your email, which will take you to a page where you can login. If you already have an existing login from a previous JoCo Cruise, log in with that account; your old user account will then be linked to the new booking. If you do not have a JoCo Cruise user account, please create a new account.

Once logged in, you will be asked to fill out any information that’s missing from your passenger record. If you wish to edit your existing information, click the blue “Edit” button next to your name and you will be taken to a page where you can edit all of your personal information (Name, Birthdate, Citizenship, etc.).

Once logged into your JCC User Account, you can see your account’s payment history in the top right hand corner. In the bottom right hand corner you will see a box called “Submit a Payment”, which will tell you how much is owed at that given time. Type in how much you would like to pay, and click “Pay $XXX now.” This will take you to Paypal, where you can either log into your existing Paypal account, or you can click the gray “Pay with credit or debit card” box to pay with your card outside of any existing Paypal account. Complete the payment, and you’re done!

Email us at [email protected], and let us know that you would like to add someone to your booking. We will add a space and reprice your booking accordingly. The name of the guest will be “TBD Guest”. You can then follow the instructions from the other questions here to either invite the guest to join your booking or fill out their information on your own.

Email us at [email protected], and let us know that you would like to delete a passenger from your booking. We will delete your cabin-mate’s reservation and reprice your booking accordingly. NOTE: cancellation or change fees may apply.